Revelations
by SNN
Summary: Through a series of weirdish moments, Derek and Casey come to some conclusions. Implied Dasey. Oneshot. Sorry for the bad summary.


**A/N: **So here's another oneshot for ya! It's a little longer than my others, but I think you'll enjoy it. I know I should be working on "Here's to the Nights," but I got this in my head and it wouldn't leave until I put it on paper. (Okay, in a word document, whatever. ;P) I should also be working on my summer reading, but that's pretty much a lost cause. Ugh. I'd much rather read Dasey stories than read about dust and the great move to California. (And, yes, I'm referring to _The Grapes of Wrath. _:shudder: It's boring me to tears, I tell ya. _Tears_.)

Anyways!

I hope you guys like it! I probably won't do another chapter, even though it leaves off in a way that I could if I really tried. But that involves effort, an area in which I'm currently lacking.

Oh, and some notes:

"/-/" signals a significant time change

"--" signals a little bit less time (normally in the same day or whatver)

This makes several references back to episodes from the seasons, including: _Ivanwho?; Two Kisses, One Party; _a little bit of _Show-Off Tune_; _Allergy Season; _and some more I can't think of. Oh, and forgive me if it's pretty out-of-sequence with the actual episodes, as it was for the flow of the story's sake.

Um, I think that it! So... R&R! :)

* * *

**Revelations**

Planting herself on the couch, Casey sighed and allowed her eyes to wander over to the man on her left. He was reclining lazily in his chair, head resting on the back of it while watching the television. They had managed to be civil to each other for the past couple hours, and, Casey had to admit, she almost missed the bickering. It was certainly more entertaining than this absurdity that was displayed across the screen.

"You know, I'm happy that you've finally realized that you're living with God's Gift to Women, but staring _is_ sort of rude," Derek said, rolling his eyes over to her to see her reaction.

She scoffed, "Ugh. You are so conceited." Then she did the classic Casey move and rolled her eyes at her annoying step-brother. "And, for your information, I wasn't _staring_ at you. I was simply admiring the fact that you managed to get food all over your face even though today's food was probably the least messy food in the world," she quipped, narrowing her eyes and allowing a smirk to cross her face when he started rubbing at his face hurriedly.

Realizing he'd (somehow) fallen for her trick, Derek scowled. "Right, because you didn't spill tomato soup all over Max's lap and scorch his skin at lunch today."

Her jaw dropped, "That was an _accident_! And the nurse said those burns were only minor!"

At this, Derek laughed. "Classic Casey," he muttered, getting up out of his chair and traveling upstairs to his room. Casey scoffed again, but decided not to pursue the matter further and grabbed the remote instead.

/-/

"So, I heard you dumped Max," Derek said, barging into Casey's room and making himself comfortable on her bed.

"Not that it's any of your business, but, if you _must _know, then, yes, I did," she replied, turning in her computer chair to face the intruder.

He almost looked disbelieving, "I thought you were just going to 'change back' to the old Casey?"

"Well, it turns out that that involves going to the core of the problem--"

"Max was the problem? _Max_? Listen, Casey, I know he might've been a putz on occasion, but it's not his fault you turned into an airhead," Derek cut in, getting up and moving to the edge of her bed to sit.

"I resent that! But that wasn't what I was going to say. You didn't let me finish," she said primly, practically snarling at him. "_As I was saying_, I had to get to the core of the problem: I _felt_ like I had to change for Max. Yes, it was a kind of subtle thing at first, but it was getting bad. I dropped everything that made me who I was, Derek. That's not the way it should have to be when I'm with someone," she clarified, looking solemnly at her nails.

She heard him sigh heavily before he spoke, like she was a burden he had yet to figure out a way to rid himself of. "Casey, that's _your_ problem. Max never did anything to make you change. Didn't he even try to keep you from joining cheer-leading?" he asked, his eyebrow raising in question.

"That was because of Amy," she said, almost offhandedly. "And why are you defending him, exactly?"

Derek stood up and looked down at her, "I'm not defending him, per se. It's more of a 'wondering why my step-sister would break it off with a guy who could stand her for more than a month' kind of thing."

Casey stood, then, too, and glared daggers at him. "Okay, first off, you need to consult Sam, _your best friend_, before you go and diss my love life like that. Second – why are you even bothering with this, anyway?" She was practically fuming. "Aren't _you_ the one who insists on no meddling?"

"This isn't meddling. This is..." he trailed off, not really knowing what it was if it wasn't, in fact, meddling. "Well, it's just not meddling, okay? Because I'm not going to go and _set up a date_ for you with him, if that's what you're getting at."

"Oh, are you seriously still going on about that? It got you together with Sally, didn't it?" said Casey, crossing her arms and jutting her hip out to the side.

"I would've gotten together with Sally eventually, _without_ your help. And it would have been a whole lot less emotionally _messy_ if _you_ hadn't stuck your especially large nose in _as usual_ and tried to mess with _my _ life!" Derek almost yelled. He briefly wondered why he was getting so mad about this, but then dismissed it, because this was Casey, and everything about her pissed him off.

"One: my nose is not _large, _it's petite. Two: why are you getting so _angry_?" Casey asked, voicing his thoughts and making him wonder if maybe she had somehow mastered telepathy in the last ten minutes.

Not having a real answer, he did what every male did in this kind of situation: he changed the subject. "_Whatever_, Space-Case. I just thought you might want to know that Max and Amy were back together," he said smugly, crossing his arms and cocking a smirk.

Casey looked stricken, "_What_? No way! Max doesn't like her anymore. He told me so."

"Really? Well, then, he lied, 'cause they were sucking face on the couch at the after-game party," he added, getting twisted pleasure out of the hurt look on her face.

Casey sat back down in her chair and looked despondently at the floor. "Well, I guess it didn't take him too long to move on, then, huh?" she said, not really hoping for an answer.

"Yeah, well, that's life for ya, Princess," Derek said, heading out of her room. He turned at her doorway, though, and spoke again, "For what it's worth, I think you're better off without him." Casey looked up at him, shocked by his astonishingly kind words. He pointed a finger at her, "You tell anyone I said that, though, and I'm showing the entire school the footage of you gargling in the bathroom." And then he was gone.

Casey just sat there, a small smile dancing across her face.

/-/

Derek walked in the house, slamming the door and heading towards his chair. "Ed, move," he said, and the chair's current occupant immediately moved over to the other chair by the television. Derek promptly shoved himself into his seat and snatched the remote from off the arm of the couch, earning an enraged glare from Casey, who was sitting next to Marti on the couch.

"_Der-ek_! We're watching something," she said through clenched teeth.

"Yep," Derek said, changing the channel, "and, _now_ you're watching something better." He propped his feet up and tried to relax, and he would have pulled it off were it not for Casey's nagging.

"You know, just because Sally dumped you does not give you the right to treat everyone here _worse_. It's not _our_ fault that you're an obnoxious jerk who doesn't know how to treat a girl right," Casey bit, knowing she was pushing some buttons.

Derek glared over at her, "Okay, first, Sally did not _dump_ me, okay? It was... mutual agreement. And I do so treat girls right. Just ask Emily. Or Sandra, or Kendra, or any other girl I've ever dated. I'm the perfect gentleman to my ladies. Besides, being taken is _way_ overrated."

"Oh, _please. _If treating them right means you use, lie, and avoid, then, well, yeah, you did. But you didn't. And you know you didn't. And you also know that Sally completely dumped your sorry ass because she caught you _flirting_ with one of the customers. _Again_," Casey said, standing up to block the television screen, which Derek had begun to pay attention to once he had decided he was too good for the conversation.

"Casey, _move_," he said, trying to see around her. "I know you feel the need to _butt in_ with everything in my life, but could you possibly just _back off_ for _one minute_?!" When she still wouldn't move, he huffed and stared her down. She still didn't move. Exasperated, he got out of his chair and stormed up the stairs.

Casey, completely forgetting that her original mission was to retrieve the remote, immediately trailed behind him to finish the argument. Edwin happily made himself comfortable in Derek's chair again and resumed watching cartoons with Marti.

--

"...don't understand why you can't just drop it!" Derek bellowed, completely ticked off. They were now standing outside the door to his room, gesticulating wildly and not caring if the whole house could hear. Not that they ever cared any other time.

"_Maybe_ it's because I don't want to be in the same house as a womanizing _pig_ who thinks that it's okay to hit on other girls when he has a _girlfriend_!" Casey shouted back, red in the face and panting from her outburst.

Derek seemed to suddenly compose himself and crossed his arms casually, leaning against the doorway and letting a smirk settle itself into its natural position on his face. "You know, Case, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were jealous," he said, and he could almost see the steam coming out of her ears.

"Well, you _don't_ know any better, and I'm most definitely _not _jealous," Casey replied, her voice like steel.

Derek only chuckled a bit, "Casey, Casey, Casey... the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem." And then he turned and entered his room, closing his door after him.

And Casey was left sputtering.

/-/

Casey entered her room, smiling from ear to ear and humming brightly. She grabbed her journal, plopped down at her desk, and immediately began to scribble on about how she and Noel were beginning to become closer and closer to being something more than just friends. Of course, Derek chose this time to join her in her room and rain on her parade.

"Jeez, Case, I can practically feel the icky emotion hearts radiating off of you," he said, making a face and leaning against the doorjamb.

"You know, Derek, normally I would let you get a rise out of me, but not today. I'm too happy," she replied, half turning to look at him with a smile before resuming her writing. Derek, not at all pleased by the fact that he didn't have her undivided attention, decided to walk all the way over to her desk and totally invade her personal space.

"'_Noel is so wonderful. He and I can talk about almost _everything_. He's smart, and funny, and he can sing, too!_' God, Case, what is this crap? Are you writing an ad for the school newspaper so he can get dates or something?" he said, having read over her shoulder and fully crushed her happy mood.

Closing her journal and getting up, it was Casey's turn to make the disgusted face, "It's not _my_ fault that you can't appreciate a good man."

At this, Derek quirked an eyebrow, "Is that supposed to be an insult?" At her pointed look, he moved on. "Oh, and, newsflash, Space-Case, I'm into girls," he said, a condescending look on his face.

"Oh, is that what they're calling themselves these days?" she mock-questioned, heading for the door. "And here I was under the impression that they were all just transvestites with really good voice talents."

Derek, noticing her leaving the room, followed after. "I'll be sure to tell Kendra that," he said, knowing that she and the girl had become close friends since he and Kendra had broken up.

Casey rolled her eyes, heading downstairs, "Please, Derek. I meant the ones you go on one date with and then just ditch the next day at school."

"_Oh_, you mean _those_ girls?" he asked, stepping in front of her and blocking the bottom of the steps. "You mean the ones that won't come back because you kept interrupting the date?" He then struck a thoughtful pose, "_Hmm_, I wonder why I never saw _them_ again..."

"That was one time, Derek. And it was a total accident. The rest was _all you_, baby," she said, and then realized what she'd called him. "Uhm... that's not what..." she trailed off, turning a deep shade of red.

Derek chuckled, "Whatever you say, _babe_."

/-/

An infuriated Casey stormed into Derek's room, completely ignoring her knocking rule and going straight in. "_Der-ek!_ You just couldn't help yourself, could you?!"

Almost instantly recovering from the shock of her sudden visit, Derek leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms leisurely. "I'm afraid you're gonna have to be just a _little_ bit more specific, there, princess," he said, watching her grow more and more enraged by the minute.

"Noel! You totally told him something! Or did something!" she said, pacing, and then stopped to point an accusing finger at him. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," he replied cautiously.

"_Ooh, _yes, you did. I _know_ you did. Because one minute, he's all cool and funny and perfect, and the next he's distant and awkward and _what did you do_?!" she almost screamed, getting up (well, not really up, as he was sitting down) in his face.

Derek stood up, not one to be intimidated by his high-strung step-sister. "_I_ didn't do anything," he replied, moving forward, causing her to step back and stumble over some clutter on the floor. Then, in another classic Casey move, she started to fall backwards. On impulse, Derek grabbed her arm to stop her from falling and ended up pulling her closer in the process. Their faces were inches apart, and somewhere along the way they'd lost their breath, which was now coming out in short bursts.

"Thanks," Casey breathed, unable to look away from his eyes.

Derek moved closer. "No problem," he rasped, his face now mere centimeters from hers.

"Casey! Can you come help me with dinner?" Nora called from downstairs, breaking the spell and causing the two to jump apart guiltily. There was a long, awkward pause where they both just stood there, fiddling with their hands, before Nora called again. "Casey? Casey, did you hear me?"

"Yeah, Mom! I'm coming," Casey replied, chancing one last nervous glance at Derek before darting out of the room to help her mom.

Derek fell back in his chair, both shocked and amused by the situation.

/-/

Casey sighed, leaning her head back against the headboard of her bed and momentarily closing her eyes. She had just finished rereading _Ivanhoe _for the fifth time and she still couldn't get enough of it. Then she remembered the time when she had tried to get Max to be her Ivanhoe.

"That was a lost cause," she mumbled bitterly to herself. And what kind of excuse was "I didn't think you needed that kind of stuff"? _Please. _Every girl wants to be swept off her feet. It just so happened that Casey didn't want to sit around and wait for Max to get the picture, so she tried to help him out. So what if she appeared whiny and irritating – she only wanted a little chivalry. That wasn't so much to ask, was it?

"Yo, Case," Derek said, giving a half knock to her door before entering, "dinner's ready." She sighed again and followed Derek downstairs. Had Derek just knocked? On _her_ door? _Strange_, she thought, and took her seat at the table.

Dinner was oddly quiet, save for the clinking of forks against plates and mutters to pass the peas. Derek and Casey weren't fighting; in fact, they hadn't really done all that much talking since the "baby" slip up two weeks ago. Casey could barely bring herself to look him in the face, and it didn't help the knowing smirk that had situated itself on his mouth every time she did. She didn't know why, exactly, she was so embarrassed – it was only a Freudian slip (where you say one thing and mean your mother) and Derek knew that. So why did her heart speed up whenever she passed by his room or saw him the hallways at school?

"So... uh, how was school today, Casey?" Nora asked, trying to rid the atmosphere of the awkward silence.

Jolted out of her reverie (which involved moving her food around on her plate), Casey looked confusedly at her mom before finally understanding what she'd asked. "Oh! Um, it was fine," was all she managed before she looked back down at her plate.

"Anything exciting happen?" Nora was desperate. Not even _Marti _was talking, and that was a rare day when that happened.

"What? No, nothing," Casey responded, barely looking up this time. Nora looked put-out, and seemed as if she was going to talk more, but Derek interrupted her.

"Right, if you consider 'nothing' as being publicly humiliated by Noel at lunch today," he said, a maniacal grin crossing his face.

Casey snarled, "_Der-ek!_ That was all your fault and you know it! If _you_ hadn't done whatever it is you did, then _he_ wouldn't have done what he did!" Nora almost cried out with relief; it was back to normal. A confusing normal, but normal, nonetheless.

"I didn't _do_ anything. At least, not to him," Derek replied, cool as a cucumber. "You can't go and blame me for every little thing that goes wrong in your life, Space-Case. You're just going to have to accept the fact that Noel doesn't like you and it's _all your fault_," he finished, leaning forward on the table.

"Ugh! I _hate_ you, Derek!" Casey screamed, jumping out of her seat and running up the stairs.

Now Nora missed the silence.

--

"He's so _stupid_, Em! Why can't he just let me live my life?" Casey ranted, finally finished her tirade and waiting for Emily's response with almost baited breath.

"Uh..." she heard Emily's cautious voice come down the line. "Did you ever think that maybe this one wasn't his fault?" Casey could almost see the face Emily was making through the phone, and she didn't like what she "saw."

"It's _always_ his fault! In fact, if it weren't for him, I wouldn't _have_ relationship problems. Back at my old school, I had a steady boyfriend," Casey said, flopping down on her bed and looking up at the ceiling. Okay, so that one was a lie. It was really only two dates and the guy had turned out to be a total jerk, but everyone lied every now and then to make points, didn't they? Admittedly, Noel had said, in so many words, to buzz off because he thought she was a total fake, but Casey just didn't want to accept the fact that he was kind of right. And so was Derek, for once. It wasn't his fault that Noel thought that. Not that she'd ever admit that out loud.

"Okay, Casey. Whatever you say," Emily replied, sighing in resignation.

/-/

A week later, Casey decided that she was over the whole Noel issue. It was time to move one. This had nothing to do with the fact that she was invited to the coolest party of the year.

"Oh, my gosh, Casey, I'm so excited! Do you know how monumentally huge this is?" Emily squealed, jumping up and down excitedly. "We're going to James Burton's party! Could we _be_ any more in there?"

"I know! This is so cool!" Casey replied, squealing and jumping along with Emily. "And what could be a better way to forget about Noel?" she added, a faux-concentrated look coming across her face.

"Exactly! This is the _perfect_ distraction," Emily agreed, sighing wistfully as thoughts of loud music and boys ran through her mind.

--

"_Der-rek!_ I can_not_ believe that you dented George's car!" Casey stage-whispered, darting her eyes around nervously.

"Well, _maybe_ if I wasn't being _nagged_ by a certain _step-sister_ of mine, then I would've been able to pay more attention and not hit my dad's car," Derek bit back, analyzing the dent, trying to see if he could pass it off as shadows.

"Well, _maybe_ if you weren't so _incompetent_ then I wouldn't _have_ to nag!" she countered, lurking over him to see the dent in the new car.

Derek sighed, standing up and turning to face her. "Listen, princess, you need to _chill_. It's going to be fine. We can just blame it on some raccoons or whatever. Say they knocked over a box," he said, and knocked over a particularly large one that was resting precariously on a shelf nearby. "It's not like Dad ever cleaned this place. It's practically a nesting ground for them." Derek shrugged noncommittally, and gave Casey an expectant look.

She actually took an entire ten minutes of just standing there, thinking (Derek huffing and puffing and making crazy faces at her after the first two minutes), before finally caving and agreeing to his plan. "Okay," she said at last, almost shocking Derek to the point of stunned, "you're right. There's mess all over the place. Who's to say a raccoon _didn't_ knock a box over?"

"_Now _you're thinking," Derek said, and led her back inside with an arm over her shoulders. "We can catch a ride with Sam, since we can't move The Prince right now," he added, picking up the phone as they entered the kitchen.

--

Three hours later, Derek and Casey cautiously reentered the dark house, grateful when they realized that their parents weren't back yet.

"Thank God," Casey said, and flopped down on the couch tiredly. "I was so worried they'd catch us."

"Yeah, me, too," Derek muttered, creeping up the stairs as quickly as he could.

Confused, Casey got up and followed him to his room. "What was that about? They're not home. You don't have to sneak around right now," she said, brow furrowed and arms crossed.

"Do I have to have a reason for _every_thing I do?" Derek replied, distracted. He was quickly changing into his pajamas, barely noticing her presence. He ripped off his shirt then, and Casey's jaw nearly dropped. Sure, she figured he'd be relatively toned from hockey, but not so... _defined_.

_It's like art_, she thought in awe, thinking of nothing other than running her fingers all over his torso and feeling the muscle and taut skin.

The spell was broken, however, by Derek throwing on an old shirt and dropping his pants, revealing blue and green boxers. "Um, Derek?"

Seeming to notice her for the first time, his eyes darted over to her. "What?" He seemed perfectly oblivious to the fact that he had just been half-naked in front of his keener step-sister.

"Nothing," she said, resigned, and scurried off to her room to go to bed, the image of Derek's body still fresh in her mind.

/-/

"Look, Casey, just because you saved my ass _one time_ from Ryan's ginormous fists does not mean that you get to rule over me," Derek said, walking into his room and hoping to be left alone. Casey had been hassling him for the past three hours about how he needs to _this_, and he needs to do _that_, and all he really wanted was for her to _shut up_ so he could lie on his bed and brood.

"Oh, come _on_, Derek. You know that you would've been permanently scarred if I hadn't stepped in," she said, following him and stopping at the entrance to his room. No _way_ was she entering that pig-sty. "In other words, that definitely means that I 'rule over you,'" she finished, crossing her arms and fixing him with a look.

Derek shot her his own look and grabbed his doorknob, "All right, Case. This is how it's goin down: I'm gonna stay here in my room and pretend that you didn't just say you get to boss me around, and _you_ are going to leave me alone. Got it?" At her jaw-drop, Derek closed the door firmly and stomped (yes, literally) to his bed and flopped down.

Casey opened his door, then, and, despite her better judgment, walked in the room and stood in front of his bed, crossing her arms. "Were you not listening when I told Ryan that I would _never_ listen to you? Or are you so dense that you think I actually will?"

Derek let out an agitated sigh. "_Casey, buzz off! _I don't _care_ what you will or will not do, as long as it doesn't involve me," he bit, turning on his side and hiding his head under his pillow.

Casey scoffed and ripped the pillow out of his hands. "_Der-ek!_ Why won't you just hear me out?"

He shot straight up, hands raising above his head in exasperation, "Because you're acting like Sally!"

Taken aback, Casey didn't know what to say. So, of course, she said something anyway. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, she always used to get in my business and try and get me to do stuff that _I didn't want to do_. Which is exactly what you're doing. Why are you trying so hard to change me?" he asked as an afterthought.

"Why are you so set against change?" Casey countered, eyes narrowing and eyebrow raising.

"Because you should accept me for who I am!" he cried, pacing around his room dramatically.

"Oh," Casey said, at a loss for words yet again. "I... I'm sorry, I guess." And then she left his room.

Derek fell back on his bed and smiled. "I thought she'd never leave." _Thank God that worked._ _She's so gullible._

His smile faltered, though, when he realized that comparing her to Sally was pretty low. Casey only had Sally's good qualities, which included caring for someone enough to try and help them out. But, he realized, Casey wasn't trying to change him. She was just trying to instill some values into him before he was "completely corrupted," as she'd put it on occasion.

He sighed and rubbed at his face, trying to get rid of these... _things_ that had been haunting his mind recently. He would find himself letting his eyes linger a bit on Casey as she walked down the stairs for dinner, or when she walked down the halls at school. He had to admit, and he wasn't really ashamed of it or anything (he would just never say it out loud), Casey was a really attractive girl.

But that doesn't mean he likes her, does it?

--

"Does he seriously think I was being like Sally?" Casey muttered, pacing back and forth in her room, hand to her forehead. "Not that that's a bad thing. I mean, Sally was cool. She threw that party for Marti and she tried to help me out with Max, even though that was a lost cause..." she trailed off, walking to her window and staring out, a pensive look on her face. "But, then again, Sally _was_ really controlling. And she _did_ butt-in on things that weren't her business. But she was just trying to be friendly, helping out the family! That's what good girlfriends do."

She walked to her bed and sat down, unable to stop her racing thoughts. "But she's his _ex_-girlfriend. As in, got-on-his-nerves ex-girlfriend. Albeit, _she_ dumped _him_, but she really was getting on his nerves at the end. Even I could tell, and I was barely around him then. Although that pie in the face was hilarious..." She began to chew on her nail, deep in thought. "He was scarred for _days_..."

She huffed, dropping her hand and standing up to pace again. "But he compared me to his _ex-girlfriend_. That's never a good thing."

She stopped, mid-pace, as a thought struck her. "What a minute – why do I care? It's not like I have a crush on Derek or anything. I can't stand Derek. He's everything I hate about guys. He's messy, dirty, smelly, _and_ he drinks straight from the milk carton." She couldn't stop the onslaught of thoughts that chose that time to flood her mind. "But he can also be really sweet when he wants to be," she murmured, resuming her pacing. "He called my dad for me, even though it was his fault to begin with that my dad didn't pay any attention to me. He got people to lay off with the teasing at school. He even made me a birthday video and brought my idiot ex-boyfriend to come see me in the hospital. Of course, there wouldn't have _been_ a birthday video if he hadn't tried to throw me a _surprise party._

"And when he plays with Marti, he's so sweet and good to her. And when he tried to help Edwin with that bully of his... And that time in the bathroom. That couldn't have _all_ been made up. There was something in his eyes that night..." she said, going back to memories of the party. They had actually gotten along that night. It was... nice, to say the least. Even the shampoo fight wasn't as bad as it could've been were it with someone else. "And when he helped Lizzie with her hockey! That one was good, too.

"And his hair has managed to get even more amazing, if that's even possible." She nearly fainted at what had come out of her mouth. _Did she think that Derek is attractive? _"Hockey hasn't steered him wrong, that's for sure," she muttered, engaging in a mini-argument with herself. "And he's smart, too. He's just so _lazy_! If he'd just try every once in a blue moon, he might learn that he has more than just hockey and girls going for him."

--

"_Of course_ I don't like her," Derek muttered, frustrated. "Why would I like _Casey_, of all people? She's snotty and she shoves her nose where it doesn't belong. Not to mention the fact that she has to get on my case about _everything_. It wouldn't make any sense for me to like her."

He stretched out on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. But no matter how hard he tried, he just could _not _get Casey out of his head. Her long, silky hair and dancer's legs. Her smile and the way her eyes light up when she's pleased with a job well-done. Her good heart, even though it was incredibly over-dramatic at times (okay, all the time).

He sat up and moved to the side of his bed, letting his feet touch the floor. What was so bad about having a crush on his step-sister, anyway? (Not that he had one, of course.) It's not like it was incest or anything like that. They were just two teenagers thrown in the same house by fault of marriage.

So maybe he did have... _feelings_ for Casey. What was so bad about that? It's not like she's so terrible. She tries her hardest at everything, and she's nice to everyone. Who _wouldn't_ like her?

--

"Am I defending _Derek_? And to myself, of all people?"

Casey looked up, then, and it was as if the sun was shining down on her alone, illuminating her face.

"I like _Derek_?"

--

"Oh, my God," Derek said aloud, standing up and sticking his hands in his hair, "_I like Casey_."

* * *

**Like it? Hate it? Love it? Let me know! :)  
**


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